Model Comparison

Codestral-22B vs Qwen2 72B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen2 72B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Codestral-22B vs Qwen2 72B Instruct — which is better?

Codestral-22B (by Mistral AI) and Qwen2 72B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Codestral-22B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MBPP). Qwen2 72B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Codestral-22B if…

  • you are already invested in the Mistral AI ecosystem

Choose Qwen2 72B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2024
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Codestral-22B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MBPP).

Qwen2 72B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

49.8B diff

Qwen2 72B Instruct has 49.8B more parameters than Codestral-22B, making it 224.3% larger.

Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
22.2Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct
72.0Bparameters
22.2B
Codestral-22B
72.0B
Qwen2 72B Instruct

License

Usage and distribution terms

Codestral-22B is licensed under MNPL-0.1, while Qwen2 72B Instruct uses tongyi-qianwen.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Codestral-22B

MNPL-0.1

Open weights

Qwen2 72B Instruct

tongyi-qianwen

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Codestral-22B was released on 2024-05-29, while Qwen2 72B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Qwen2 72B Instruct is 2 months newer than Codestral-22B.

Codestral-22B

May 29, 2024

2.0 years ago

Qwen2 72B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

1.9 years ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2 72B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Higher HumanEval score (86.0% vs 81.1%)
Higher MBPP score (80.2% vs 78.2%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Codestral-22B vs Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Which is better, Codestral-22B or Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Qwen2 72B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Codestral-22B is made by Mistral AI and Qwen2 72B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Codestral-22B compare to Qwen2 72B Instruct in benchmarks?

Codestral-22B scores HumanEvalFIM-Average: 91.6%, HumanEval: 81.1%, MBPP: 78.2%, Spider: 63.5%, HumanEval-Average: 61.5%. Qwen2 72B Instruct scores GSM8k: 91.1%, CMMLU: 90.1%, HellaSwag: 87.6%, HumanEval: 86.0%, Winogrande: 85.1%.

What are the main differences between Codestral-22B and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (MNPL-0.1 vs tongyi-qianwen). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Codestral-22B and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Codestral-22B is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen2 72B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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